Hair curler



United States Patent 3,399,684 HAIR CURLER `Ioseph Meli, 11 Middle Lane, Jericho, N.Y. 11753 Filed Mar. 12, 1965, Ser. No. 439,334 2 Claims. (Cl. 132-40) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to an expandable hair curler so that curls of varying width may be obtained as desired. This objective is obtained herein by the use of a central cylindrical cage and a pair of slidably interlocking cylindrical end pieces, each having a plurality of finger elements for slidably engaging said central cage, in captive relationship.

This invention relates to devices upon which a womans hair may be rolled up in order to produce a curl in the This invention is described by means of several illusl trative embodiments shown in the accompanying drawing in which;

FIG. 1 is a disassembled elevation view in longitudinal cross section of the hair curler showing the central cylindrical cage separated from the removable pair of identical opposing cylindrical end pieces, said end pieces each comprising a plurality of circularly disposed fingers,

FIG. 2 is a section view similar to FIG. 1 of the assembled hair curler showing one of the end pieces fully inserted into the central cage and showing the other and curler partly inserted into the central cage.

FIG. 3 is a transverse view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2 showing radial clearance between the fingers and the cage,

FIG. 4 is a transverse section view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2 showing radial clearance between the fingers and the cage,

FIG. 5 is an end view of a modified end piece looking from the finger and outwardly toward the rim,

FIG. 6 is a perspective View of a single finger of the end piece of FIG. 5 attached to its rim, and

FIG. 7 is a cross section of a portion of the modied end piece of FIG. 5 disposed in a portion of a central cage and showing a parallel type of clearance between the fingers and said cage.

The hair curler of this invention is preferably made of plastic material although it is operable when made of metal for example, aluminum. Preferably the plastic is of semi-rigid quality such as polypropylene and the like.

Turning now to the drawing, an integral plastic cylindrical tubular cage 10 is provided with plurality of circumferentially disposed suitably wide longitudinal apertures or slots 11 extending from one rim 12 to the opposite rim 13. The walls of these slots may be radial or each pair of walls of each slot, may be parallel disposed.

The cage 10 is thus provided with a plurality of integral ribs 14 intermediate each pair of adjacent apertures 11, said ribs 14 being secured integrally to adjacent ribs 14 on each side by means of integral spacer elements 15 disposed in the rims 12 and 13.

The overall effect is that cage 10 resembles an integral CII squirrel cage comprising a plurality of uniformly spacedapart ribs 14, each secured at the extremity of its base on each side by a pair of spacer elements 15 of suitable predetermined height and wid-th to receive finger elements 16 of the integral end pieces 17.

As shown in FIG. 1, each end piece is identical to the other so that a simplicity of construction is achieved. The end pieces 17 are preferably made of plastic material. The fingers 16 are each provided with an integral depending stop element 18 of a height and quality to captively engage the spacer elements 15.

The width of the fingers 16 and their stops 18 is suitably less than that of the spacer elements 15 (FIG. 3) so that the respective lingers 16 have radially disposed walls and radial clearance to the cage slots 11 to produce a sliding engagement therebetween.

The end pieces 17 are of integral construction so that the spaced-apart fingers 16 thereof are spaced by suitably wide integral spacers 19 which comprise a rim 20. The rim 20 of an end piece 17 is in opposed relationship to the stops 18 thereof.

Preferably, the spacers 19 are of a width to permit a pair of adjacent fingers 16 of an end piece 17 to span a pair of adjacent ribs 14. Accordingly, the fingers 16 of any one end piece 17 engage every other aperture 11 of the cage 10 thereby permitting the fingers of the other end piece 17 to fall into the intermediate corresponding apertures 11.

The number of apertures 11 equals the total number of fingers 16 of both end pieces.

In order to assemble a hair curler of FIG. 2, the end pieces 17 are aligned with the cage 10 in opposing relationship so that the fingers 16 with the stops 18 thereon are disposed in front of the respective spacer elements 15. Then the ends of the ffingers are pushed or lifted over these spacers so that the rear at rectangular wall 21 of a stop 18 engages a co-acting corresponding wall 22 of the spacer element 15. Thus all of stops 18 of the fingers 16 of both end pieces 17 are captively and slidingly retained intheir respective slots 11.

The leading edge 23 of the stops 18 of fingers 16 may be rounded, if desired, to facilitate forcing them over the spacerelements 15.

The modification shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 inclusive is a preferred form of this invention.

In this modification, provision is made on the stop elements to slidingly and captively engage the interior wall of the respective adjacent ribs 14 of the cage 10.

As shown, in FIG. 6, the finger 16X is integral to a rim 19 and its stop 18X is provided at its end with a curved wall 25 which extends beyond the width 26 of said nger 16X to form planar ledges 27. f

The height of wall 28 of the stop 18X of a linger 16X is predetermined to permit the pair of opposing ledges thereof to slidingly engage with suitable clearance the inner walls of a pair adjacent ribs 14 (FIG. 7). Thus the stops 18X of the fingers 16X of the modified end pieces are at all times longitudinally and slidingly and captively engaged to -the cage 10 against any and all displacement.

In order to insert the modified stops 18X of anend piece into a cage 10, the respective end piece is so placed over the cage rim 12 or 13 so that the modified stops 18X thereof are over the respective slots 11 of the cage at about the middle thereof so that pressure on each of these stops 18X pops them through the slot and into place.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 the clearance needed for effective sliding action between the fingers and the cage slot may be uniform and of a radial configuration, namely, the walls of the fingers and of the slots are all pointed toward the axis of the cage 10.

However, and preferably, the clearance between the fingers and the walls of the slots 10 is made parallel. In such case the clearance between the walls of both the fingers and the slots is uniform and parallel throughout.

Other and obvious modifications of this invention will now become apparent to those skilled in the art, but all such modifications are intended to be covered by the claims herein.

What is claimed is:

1. A hair curler comprising a longitudinal tubular opposing relationship to the slidablc captive fingers of the other end piece in the cage for insertion into said opposed rims of said cage in sliding engagement in said slots, said fingers each having an inwardly disposed suitably large stop means at the free end thereof adapted to be captively retained and slidingly engaged in said respective slots of said cage.

2. The hair curler of claim 1 wherein said cage is an integral molded plastic piece and wherein each of said cylindrical cage having opposing circular rims and a m end pieces are integral molded plastic units.

plurality of spaced-apart longitudinal rim to rim ribs forming a plurality of longitudinal slots therebetween forming spacer elements in each of said circular rims; and a pair of identical cylindrical tubular end pieces each having a plurality of longitudinal fingers with the fingers of each end piece being half the number of said slots, said fingers being suitably spaced-apart to engage every other slot, so that the slidable captive fingers of one end piece are disposed in alternate overlapping and K References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,209,766 l0/1965 Dannat 132-40 F. BARRY SHAY, Primary Examiner'.

G. E. MCNEILL, Assistant Examiner. 

